Never According To The Plan
by slytherinbyatch
Summary: Hermione Granger is now in her fifth year at Hogwart's School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. This fic contains elements of both 'Romione' and 'Dramione' - mixing it up! Rated T due to strong language, mild sexual reference etc. Please leave reviews where possible!
1. Prologue: Sorting

***INCASE ANYONE IS SLGHTLY CONFUSED, THIS USED TO BE CALLED "HERMIONE'S FIFTH YEAR" BUT THAT WAS CRAP SO I'VE COME UP WITH A _SLIGHTLY_ BETTER TITLE, WHICH I THINK GOES ALONG WITH THE VAST MAJORITY OF HERMIONE'S LIFE! - 'NEVER ACCORDING TO THE PLAN'.**

Prologue

_**Sorting**_

_1__st__ September 1991_

She tripped on the steps leading up to the old stool, beside which stood the sternest looking woman Hermione had ever seen. A woman Hermione now knew to be Minerva McGonagall, Professor of Transfiguration and head of Gryffindor house. Hermione Granger was at the front of the Great Hall, where she sat down on the stool abruptly and felt Professor McGonagall place the sorting hat onto her head. As this happened, Hermione found herself wishing something that she had never wished before: that she had a smaller head. Hermione had noticed that on students with smaller heads (such as the newest member of the Hufflepuff house, Hannah Abbott) the hat fell right down to their nose and covered their eyes, blinding them from the awkwardness and embarrassment Hermione was now facing, with all eyes of, gosh she couldn't bear to count, but so many students! 'That _is_ odd,' Hermione found herself thinking. 'I never found anything in _Hogwarts: A History_ about just how many students Hogwarts has! It looks pretty full to capacity here. Well, there are seven years here, and four houses...' Hermione set to work calculating the approximate number of students staring at her at this very moment.

"Well, well..." said a small, wry voice in her ear, causing Hermione to start a little. She had completely forgotten where she was until that moment. The sorting hat spoke again:

"Your thirst for knowledge gives me an instant idea where to put you now; Miss Granger..." whispered the hat in her ear. "After all, 'wit beyond measure-"

"-is a man's greatest treasure" finished Hermione.

"Yes, yes, very good Miss Granger, it certainly would appear that Ravenclaw would be suited to your needs..." Hermione's heart leapt, Ravenclaw would be perfect. The hat seemed to be following her thoughts. "Yes..." it said slowly, "perfect... conceivably. But is this perhaps, the easy way out? Yes, I sense more from you Miss Granger. I can see your heart, and it strikes me as plausibly valiant. That might make you a suitable candidate for Gryffindor..." Hermione smiled, Gryffindor would suit her just fine too. She knew her parents would be more than proud if they learned she had been placed where the sorting hat had just described as the house 'where dwell the brave at heart' "You are a hard witch to sort, Miss Granger" whispered the hat in an eerie sort of way that was beginning to creep her out, "You would do so well, in all of the houses here, you bear the striving ambition that Salazar Slytherin did seek in his students..." Hermione squirmed. She did not imagine her Muggle-born blood status would go down too well in Slytherin. "No?" mused the hat, "How about Hufflepuff? You contain the sort of loyalty that Helga herself would be proud of." Hermione pondered this. Hufflepuff wouldn't be dreadful, she supposed, but well... she did think more of herself than that. Hufflepuff wasn't exactly considered the most desirable house. "No perhaps you're right Miss Granger" said the hat, "It should be Ravenclaw or Gryffindor."

Hermione was becoming impatient. She was sure no one else had taken this long. Students were starting to look bored and hungry and whispering among themselves, and Hermione saw a tall, red-haired third year sitting on the Gryffindor table, smirk and mouth 'Hatstall' at the boy sitting opposite him that Hermione could only assume to be his twin brother.

"Come on, hurry up!" Hermione muttered irritably. She did not like being the source of impatient mutterings from the four, hungry house tables.

"Well" said the hat indignantly, "you're not making this any easier! If you had any preference to which house you wish to be in, maybe it would deter me from the other! And besides, this is no matter to be rushed! This decision will have an inexplicably large impact on your life for the next seven years! But I do get a feeling from you Miss Granger, a feeling of great potential in that brave and valiant heart of yours. I hope this is the right decision, it better be GRYFFINDOR!" The hat shouted this last word out for the whole Great Hall to hear, and finally, with a huge sigh of relief, slipped the hat off her head and went to join the long table that was now clapping and cheering in her honour. As she sat down, she noticed Ronald Weasley, whom she had met on the train, looking slightly crestfallen as he stood in the crowd of first-years yet to be sorted. He was jealous, she expected, because he was expecting to be in Hufflepuff and wished he was, like her, a Gryffindor. 'I wouldn't be surprised if he _did_ become a Hufflepuff' thought Hermione huffily, 'judging by that abysmal spell he tried to do on the train on the way here.' She smirked at the memory of it. She realised then that Ronald was still watching her broodingly, and she tried to turn the smirk into an encouraging smile, but was not sure how well it turned out, given that Ronald proceeded to turn around to face the stool again, looking slightly put-out, and if possible, even more nervous.

As luck should have it, Ronald Weasley did become a Gryffindor, along with the famous Harry Potter, that he had been with on the train here. Hermione saw Harry looking rather disgustedly at the Slytherin table and followed his gaze. He was looking at the pale, pointed face and blonde hair of Draco Malfoy, who Hermione saw attempt to speak to Harry only half an hour ago, in the Entrance Hall. The Slytherin table did look a bit morose, she had to admit. But they couldn't all be evil, dark wizards, she thought, it just wasn't possible. The Malfoy boy was now looking around, smirking, clearly flouncing his 'superiority' of being a Slytherin. Hermione looked away, disgusted. Still, she couldn't help herself thinking, was that any worse than what everyone else was doing? She herself was already filled with a great sense of pride to be in Gryffindor, and she was sure she was not a minority. What was so bad about the Slytherins showing this same sense of pride in their house? She didn't know why, but there was something about that Draco Malfoy, about the whole of Slytherin House, that intrigued her...


	2. Chapter 1: Syrup of Hellbore

Chapter 1

**_Syrup of Hellbore_**

_(10__th__ September 1995)_

That was 4 years ago now. That brave heart the Sorting Hat had seen inside her had certainly shown through her, over the past few years. Much to her surprise, her two best friends were now none other than Harry Potter and Ronald Weasley. If you told _that_ to her 11 year old self, she definitely would not have believed you. The famous Harry Potter, and his ginger friend that had mud on his nose on the train to Hogwarts all those years ago.

Hermione Granger was now in her fifth year and Hogwarts and had recently been made a Gryffindor prefect, along with Ronald Weasley. Although, God knows how that happened. 'He is the most untrustworthy, unreliable and inexplicably ignorant person in Gryffindor.' She thought angrily. Harry had certainly been thinking something similar over the holidays, something that came as a huge surprise to Ronald, although not so much to her. Another reason that suggested Ronald wasn't quite intelligent enough to be a prefect. No, Harry undoubtedly had been upset that Ron had got the badge instead of him, and he had not been afraid to show it. 'Maybe that's why he didn't get it' thought Hermione, 'he's too brash, too angry. He's brave yes, and intelligent and everything a good person should be, but he's not exactly good at keeping his anger under control.' She couldn't imagine him asking a rude, back-chatting third-year to go and visit their Head of House in an orderly and reasonably manner, she imagined it would at least involve some shouting and the drawing of Harry's wand. And that was at least, it would be much more likely that he would just scream some curse at them in the hope to shut them up. Yes, at least Ronald wouldn't do _that_. But he still didn't seem like a good candidate for someone to represent their house! And there were only 2 from each house! Well, Professor Dumbledore had been known to make some interesting decisions. But, if it was good enough for Dumbledore, then it was good enough for her! Kind of. 'Well,' she mused, 'he's nice. Really nice. Like one of those, very few people you meet who are just genuinely nice. And he's funny; he could always make anyone laugh. And he wasn't exactly stupid; he had done some very intelligent things! He had been there as much as I had when the three of us had saved the Philosopher's Stone and more so when I was petrified in the hospital wing, in the second year as Harry and Ron went down into the Chamber of Secrets. And,' she thought to herself smiling, 'he certainly wasn't ugly. He was quite attractive, in an unusual, particular sort of way...' Hermione shook herself firmly. What was she thinking? Albus Dumbledore didn't pick Hogwart's prefects because they were attractive, and funny. "Stop it" she told herself resolutely, "you can't think of him like that. He's your _friend._"

"What's that?" said Ron, who clearly had heard her muttering under her breath.

She ignored him, and continued to mutter, trying to make him think she was still deep in thought about some potion they had been brewing last Potions lesson. "Powdered moonstone, valerian root..." she muttered under her breath. Ron frowned, "powdered porcupine quills, and powdered unicorn horn... what else was there now?" She stopped muttering. She knew that was enough to throw Ron off, and stop him from questioning her premise.

"Syrup of Hellbore?" asked Ron, smirking as he looking at her.

"What?"

"That was what you were thinking about wasn't it? The Drought of Peace we brewed the other day in potions? Only you were muttering about some of the ingredients just." Ron looked rather pleased with himself. "But you forgot the Hellbore."

"What, how did you, what?" Hermione was thoroughly confused now, which didn't happen very often.

"What? You think because I'm not a smart-arse like you I don't know the ingredients to a potion we brewed this week? Jeez Hermione." He said it angrily, but the corners of his mouth were twitching.

"Wha- no of course, that's not what I meant!" Hermione had finally composed herself. "I was just surprised that's all, I didn't realise you were suddenly the potions master!" She teased.

"Ha" Ron laughed, "nahh that's just what Harry forgot to put in his isn't it? When Snape vanished his potion? Yeah well, Harry's been doing that essay that the git set him, and well..." Ron shrugged sheepishly, "I've been trying to help him." He muttered this last part as though the idea was completely ludicrous.

Hermione tried to hide a smile. She hated the way Ron had so little faith in himself, but sometimes, it was just adorable.

"Not that I can be much help to him" Ron added quickly, "I'm no you..." he nodded his head at Hermione, "but two heads have got to be better than one, surely?"

"Yes" Hermione smiled encouragingly, "yes, of course." She wanted to tell him to have more faith in himself, and believe in himself more, but she wasn't sure quite how to get the words out. "Ron," she started, but before she could get any further, Harry threw himself down onto the bench opposite them.

"Alright?" grinned Ron, eyebrows raised.

"Fuck off" replied Harry, but smiled nonetheless. "Finally finished that essay for Snape, thank God, gonna have to get started on that dream diary for Trelawney later."

"Dream diary?" Hermione smirked, "sounds riveting."

"Oh trust me it is" Harry responded, "Apparently dreaming I bought a new goldfish means I'm going to die a horrific and painful death."

Hermione looked at him quizzically. "Seriously? You dreamt you brought a new goldfish?"

Harry and Ron looked at her, utterly perplexed. "What do you think?" Ron demanded, and Hermione laughed.

"No, to be honest with you," Harry said, "I thought if I made up something as boring as that, she might let me live a few more years." He sighed. "But apparently not." He was long past the stages of fearing for his life after Divination lessons, but that didn't make having your death predicted every week any more enjoyable. It was starting to become very tiresome.

Finishing their breakfast, they hurried to History of Magic, where Ron and Harry spent the vast majority of the lesson with their heads on the desk, much to Hermione's disapproval. But even she had to admit, their timetable for Monday was the worst she'd ever seen. History of Magic, Double Potions, Ancient Runes and then Defence against the dark arts. All worthy subjects, made awful by the people teaching them. (Aside from Ancient Runes of course, that was her favourite subject). But she had to admit, she felt sorry for Harry and Ron, who didn't have Ancient Runes to brighten an otherwise horrendous day. They had Divination, to make it even worse. She battled through the day however, and came out relatively positive on the other side. The same, sadly, could not be said for Harry. He had received zero marks again in Potions and had earned himself another week's detentions with Professor Umbridge. However, Hermione found it hard to pity him when he spent all of his time biting her and Ron's head off. She had asked Ron to have a word with him about it in Divination, but was not exactly sure how that had gone. Not well, she imagined.

However, when Harry returned to the Gryffindor common room that evening, after his detention with Umbridge he seemed quieter and more secluded than ever. Hermione tried to get on his good side as quick as possible by handing him a bowl of Murtlap Essence to soothe the words etched into the back of his hand, which indeed, looked extremely painful. He only nodded gratefully in response to this action, so Hermione could assume that he was in a better, or at least calmer, mood than previously.

Sadly that didn't last long. Recently, idea's had been forming in Hermione's head about ways to improve her Defence Against the Dark Arts skills, seeing as Umbridge wasn't exactly helping. She wanted to create a group of students, who wanted to learn the spells they needed, not only to pass their O. , but also to defend themselves against you-know-who. Unfortunately though, she was having great difficulty thinking of someone to teach them to do these spells. They could always try to teach themselves, but sometimes, especially for the more difficult spells, you really need someone to show you how to do it. Hermione had only one idea of who to teach them, and although she knew the lessons would be great, she also knew it would be hard to persuade Harry to do it.

She was right, it was hard. And one hour later, she and Ron had been shouted and screamed at, as Harry had once again let his anger get the better of him and also smashed his bowl of Murtlap essence. However, she had managed to get him to consider the idea, and she knew she now, she could get him to agree, she just needed to give him time.

***AUTHOR'S NOTE: Yes I know It's all going pretty boring at the moment, but the next chapter is going to be where the real story starts! Hope you're enjoying it so far, please, please, PLEASE leave some reviews, I'd love to know how you guys are finding this! I'll be eternally grateful!* - Bex.**


	3. Chapter 2: A different side to Hermione

***AUTHOR'S NOTE: HOPE YOU'RE ENJOYING, PLEASE LEAVE REVIEWS OR YOU'LL MAKE ME CRY. THANKS GUYS. Also sorry for the wait, this chapter is rather longer than I anticipated! And tell me what you think, cause I'm not sure if I liked this chapter as much as I thought I would!**

**DISCLAIMER: All credit to JKR, I do not own any of the characters in this fanfiction. Although I wish I did. **

**SUMMARY THUS FAR: in the last chapter we saw Hermione ask Harry about starting a Defence class and his, well, slightly unenthusiastic response. This chapter continues a week after the last one was set, on the night of 16****th**** Sept.**

**WARNING: This chapter contains some more vulgar language and slight sexual ideas.***

Chapter 2

**_A different side to Hermione Granger_**

The next week passed with no real drama. Harry's detentions with Umbridge were finally over, and it seemed that Harry was starting to learn to control his temper. Hermione knew that now would be the best time to speak to him again about teaching a Defence against the Dark Arts group, but she was feeling slightly nervous after his reaction the last time she had brought it up. Even so, it was their first Hogsmeade weekend in just under three weeks, and she wanted to ask him before then. She thought they could use somewhere in Hogsmeade as somewhere to arrange a meeting and see how many people would be interested. They needed somewhere to discuss it that was far out of Umbridge's earshot. And then after that, there was the small problem of finding somewhere to practise once they had formed the group...

No, she was getting ahead of herself. The way Harry had been lately, there was next to no chance that he would agree to this. But she could still hope and she could still plan. If she planned all the dates and times and arrangements for the meetings, maybe Harry would see how much this meant to her, and to Ron and surely to some others, who wanted to learn how to fight.

Hermione was sitting alone in the Gryffindor common room, in her favourite armchair by the fire. She was surprised she could get that armchair actually; normally the room was packed at this time. Still, it was a Saturday night; she imagined a lot of the older students were out around the grounds, enjoying their later curfew of 11pm. Still, she thought at least Ron and Harry would be in the common room, she couldn't think where they could have got to, unless Quidditch practise had run over by about three hours, which didn't seem so ridiculous, given the way they had been playing recently.

Almost answering her thoughts, Harry clambered through the portrait hole and sat down on the sofa next to her.

"Hi Harry!" She smiled brightly at him. "Where've you been?"

"Um, library" he muttered.

"Library?" Hermione raised her eyebrows. "And what have you been doing in the library?" she asked, putting particular emphasis on the word 'you'.

"Working, what do you think?"

"Right, sure." Hermione nodded. She got the impression Harry wasn't being quite honest with her. He never had been a good liar.

"Actually, Hermione, I need to talk to you about something." Harry began.

"Shoot" said Hermione, closing the book she had been reading.

"Um, not here, let's go for a walk."

Hermione frowned. She agreed, but was becoming a little worried. Every time Harry wanted a quiet chat about something serious, it usually ended up with him confiding in her about his fears of someone wanting to kill him. She couldn't blame him, people did try to kill him annoyingly often, but it was hardly ever the person Harry expected it to be.

She sighed, but allowed Harry to lead her out of the common room and into the desolate seventh floor corridor. They walked in silence for a good few minutes, Hermione hurrying along wherever Harry decided to take a sharp turn down another staircase, or empty corridor.

"Harry, are you going to tell me what the problem is?" Hermione asked him, in a tone that she hoped sounded light and positive.

"Oh yeah, let's just go in here," he jerked his head at the closed door of a deserted classroom, "don't want to be overheard."

He pushed open the door, and stepped aside, allowing Hermione to slip past him into the room. As soon as she was in the room, the candles floating around the walls burst into flame, throwing the room into light as a chorus of "SURPRISE!" hit Hermione, throwing her into a state of shock. She was surrounded by a room full of people, all beaming at her happily and shooting glitter out of the ends of their wands. She turned around to see Harry grinning at her.

"You!" she shouting, running and throwing her arms around him. "Oh my God!" She laughed loudly and kissed him firmly on the forehead.

Harry grinned as she let go of him, and slipped his arm around her shoulder. "Actually," he smirked, "this was all Ron's idea, I just helped." He smiled, and pointed. Hermione followed his gaze to see Ron standing in the middle of the room, under a large banner bearing the legend: 'HAPPY BIRTHDAY HERMIONE!' and holding his arms up either side of him, as if to say: 'Come on. How awesome is this?'

"Oh Ron!" exclaimed Hermione, running up to him, throwing her arms around his neck and hugging him tightly. "Ron, thank you so much! This is so nice, Aw my Gosh, thank you!"

Ron laughed at her gratitude and shock, and said: "Don't worry about it Hermione, Happy Birthday."

"Oh, you guys!" Hermione laughed, still in shock. "It's not even my birthday till Tuesday!"

"Yeah" smiled Ron, "but we knew you wouldn't be happy partying hard on a school night." He winked, and everyone in earshot laughed. "Right, let's get you a drink". He led her over to a large table, creaking under the weight of all the food and bottles that it bared.

"Wow." Hermione's eyes widened, "where d'you get all this?"

"Nicked the food and butterbeer from the kitchens, courtesy of our very favourite house elf" Ron winked, and Hermione made a mental note to thank Dobby next time she saw him.

Ron pointed his wand at two butterbeer bottles, muttered 'Accio' and caught them as they flew into his hand. He opened them both, and passed one to Hermione. He held his high, and she did the same. "Happy Birthday Hermione." He smiled, and they clinked bottles and hugged.

Hermione spent the next ten minutes walking around, mingling and talking to several people thanking them for coming and accepting their kind birthday wishes. It wasn't until she went to get another drink that she had time to stop and observe her surroundings. There must have been at least seventy people squashed into this classroom, all to celebrate her birthday. Her eyes filled up with the thought of it. She had never been popular, but all these people were here, for her party. Admittedly, most people were probably just here because they wanted any excuse to get a bit drunk and hook up with some stranger. She'd even seen a large group of Slytherins enter a few minutes ago, who definitely had just come because they'd heard there was a party going on. Even so, it meant that everyone there at least liked her a little bit, or enough to entertain the idea of her birthday, and that filled her with an immense feeling of happiness.

"THE PARTY HAS ARRIIIIIIIVED" shouted two voices in unison from behind Hermione. She turned to see Fred and George standing in the doorway, laden with bottles, met with huge cheers from everyone in the room. They walked over to Hermione, wished her a Happy Birthday, and started pouring drinks into shot glasses shaped like broomsticks. "Shot for the birthday girl?" asked Fred, extending a glass to her.

Hermione took it, feeling wary. "What is it?" she asked.

"Firewhiskey" George grinned. "Go on, live a little!"

She had never drunk firewhiskey before. And she was a prefect. Was this really an example she should be setting?

"Go on Hermione. It's your birthday, you deserve it." Ron smiled at her encouragingly.

Hermione lifted the glass to her lips and downed it in one.

The sensation was absurd. She had never experienced anything like it. It was like an immediate burning in her throat, followed by an immensely warm and satisfying feeling running through her body.

"Well?" asked Ron, picking a shot glass up from the table and sniffing it, "what's it like? I've never had it before."

Hermione noticed he looked a little cautious. "Go on" she grinned, echoing George's words, "live a little."

Ron raised his eyebrows at this out-of-character response but also downed the firewhiskey in one. His eyes widened and Hermione knew that he too had been pleasantly surprised by the taste.

However good it had tasted, Hermione did not want to drink any more of it. She was a prefect, she was intelligent, and above all, she was a bit of a nerd. She didn't like using the word 'nerd', as it was usually being used against her in a highly negative manner, but in this case it was the best way to describe her. And hey, what was wrong with being a nerd? Putting 'silenco' charms on an empty classroom, partying and getting drunk may be the other fifth years typical Saturday night, but it was not hers. She had had one drink out of politeness and celebration, but that would be all. She helped herself to much safer butterbeer and hurried off to join the rest of the party.

The next hour or so passed very well indeed. The low levels of alcohol in the butterbeers that Hermione was drinking had filled her with a warm sense of happiness, without intoxicating her too much, although the same could not be said for everyone. In every direction that Hermione looked there were couples hooking up. There were witches, completely drunk, throwing themselves onto boys who looked momentarily confused, then shrugged and stuck their tongues down the girls throat. There were also plenty of couples leaving the party, one leading the other out with the crook of their finger, giggling, clearly going to find somewhere a bit more secluded. What is it about alcohol that makes people so desperate for attention from the opposite sex? She found it a bit embarrassing sometimes, seeing these witches throwing themselves at anyone. How could anyone have such little self-respect, and dignity? They just looked so... desperate.

It wasn't as though Hermione didn't like kissing. No, the only people who don't like kissing are those who have never kissed anyone and wanted to make it seem like this was their own choice. Hermione had kissed Viktor Krum plenty last year, but that was very different to this. She wasn't drunk and only doing it because she wanted to have sex that night, like these girls were. No, she had _liked _Viktor. She had really liked him. And he was three school years above her and he still liked her, surely that meant what they had had been different? And he had never even tried to have sex with her, which again showed that he did care for her and wasn't just looking to 'get laid'. 'Well, clearly.' thought Hermione, 'if he just wanted sex he could have found it very easily at Hogwart's, with students older _or _younger than me.' He was a highly attractive, international Quidditch player, how many girls would say no to that? She had heard the girls in her dormitory talking, in extremely vulgar language, about exactly what they'd like to do with Krum.

Why was she thinking about Viktor now? She was hardly in contact with him anymore, unless you counted a few brief letters back and forth over summer, and she had told him that she didn't want to see him over the summer as they would never be able to continue their relationship, what with his travelling so much and her schoolwork and it would have been ultimately futile to even attempt it.

"Oh my God Hermione!" shrieked a voice, and Hermione turned to see her friend Fay from her dormitory running towards her.

"Hi!" smiled Hermione, hugging her friend.

"I have so much to tell you! But later, I'll tell you back in the dorm, Seamus has just gone to get more drinks then I think we're going to leave" said Fay happily.

"Awh!" smiled Hermione, "don't do anything I wouldn't do..." She winked suggestively.

"Hermione, if I only did what you would do, I'd be in bed in five minutes. And not in a good way either, I mean asleep."

Hermione was a bit taken aback by this slightly rude response, but brushed past it, out of happiness for her friend. After all, Fay had had a huge crush on Seamus for the best part of a year and if something was finally moving forward between them, then she was happy for her.

Fay seemed to realise how this had sounded though, as she touched Hermione on the shoulder and said: "Sorry Herms, I didn't mean it like that. But we can't all be as perfect and ladylike as you, you know." She smiled sadly. "We're not all goody-two-shoes!" Fay laughed, said goodbye and hurried off with Seamus.

'A goody-two-shoes?' thought Hermione. Was that how everyone here thought of her? Yes she was intelligent, and yes she (mostly) followed the rules, but a goody-two-shoes? That seemed a bit harsh. The phrase struck images in her head of primary-school children with no friends, going out of their way to be teachers favourite and refusing to speak to anyone who even spoke out of turn in class.

She wasn't like that though. She was lots of teachers' favourites, yes, but that was because she was clever, not because she went out of her way to please the teachers and brought apples to class or something.

Whatever. Fay was drunk and only meant it as a joke anyway. There was no need to take it seriously.

"Having a good night?" asked Harry, coming to stand next to her.

"Yeah" Hermione smiled. "Yeah, I really am Harry, thank you for helping plan this, you guys are great."

"No problem, couldn't not celebrate your 16th birthd—" He stopped, looking at something over Hermione's shoulder, his eyebrows raised.

She turned to see something she hadn't really seen all night. Although the guys were just as desperate for sex as the girls were, it was often the girls that drunkenly initiated the relationship and the guys that just went along with it. But this was different, and it disgusted her.

She had turned just in time to witness Ron attempting to kiss none other than Ravenclaw witch, Padma Patil.

"What?" muttered Hermione in disbelief as she watched Padma pull away and give Ron a swift slap across the face, and storm off, looking disgusted.

Harry was laughing. "Hard luck mate" he said to Ron, as Ron came over to the two of them, rubbing his cheek and looking confused.

"Worth a shot" muttered Ron. "Whatever."

Hermione slipped away from the two of them and moved over to stand near to the door. She couldn't be part of that conversation anymore. She couldn't be near him at all. As soon as she had seen him with _her_ she had been filled with a feeling of... she couldn't place it... what was that?

Was it..? No it couldn't be... it couldn't be jealousy. Why would it be jealousy? She didn't want Ronald to be kissing her! Did she? No of course she didn't.

Maybe it _was _jealousy, but not because she wanted to being kissing him herself, but just because she didn't want him to be kissing anyone. Yes that would be it. After all it was her birthday, and he was her best friend. He should be with her, _not kissing, _just having a good time, isn't that what friends are for? Or was that the only reason he threw her this party in the first place, to hook up with some random girl? Was her birthday just an excuse?

Or maybe she was just jealous that everyone was hooking up around her. She hadn't kissed anyone since June and maybe she was just missing close human contact? But that wasn't exactly like her, so how likely was that? But she was almost sixteen; maybe this was just her getting older?

Ron and Padma hadn't even kissed and she was suddenly questioning everything about herself. She didn't know what to think anymore. She suddenly became aware of the single tear rolling down her cheek. She turned to the wall to hide her face, and wiped her eyes hurriedly with her sleeve.

"Screw him" she told herself. "Screw him for being like that, and screw Fay for calling me a 'goody-two-shoes.'" She was sick of people looking at her like she was some kind of freak. She was sick of everyone thinking she was boring, just because she did well in class. She was sick of everyone thinking that she wasn't 'cool' just because she didn't go out and get drunk every weekend. She was sick of it all.

She turned around, grabbed a bottle of firewhiskey and downed half of it in one. She knew she would regret it tomorrow, but right now she didn't care. If this is what it took to prove herself, then so be it.

"Alriiiiight!" shouted Lavender Brown, having been watching Hermione, "never thought I'd see you getting pissed Hermione!"

Hermione gave a loud, shrill and un-Hermioneish giggle. She took another swig from the bottle and went over to dance with Lavender and some of her friends. Every now and then, she saw Ron looking at her, an expression of utter-disbelief on his face, but whenever she caught him doing this, she simple raised her eyebrows at him, as if to say: 'and what're you going to do about it?'

The next time she looked at Ron he was talking to a Hufflepuff girl that Hermione didn't know. He was sticking his chest out and drawing himself up, clearly flirting with her.

Hermione glanced around her desperately. Terry Boot was standing a few metres behind her, talking to a large group of Ravenclaws. She went up to him, pulled him away from the group and struck up a conversation.

She kept one eye firmly on Ron. She had no idea why she was doing this, but she couldn't stop herself. She waited until she saw Ron glance her way and then pretended to laugh loudly at something Terry had just said, making a conscious effort to touch his arm gently as she laughed. She had almost expected Terry to ask her what on earth was happening, but he just looked rather pleased with himself that he had made her laugh so much.

She supposed it was the alcohol.

Hermione began twirling her hair around her finger, and continued laughing at the things Terry was saying. She could see Ron looking thoroughly confused now. Terry seemed to be enjoying himself though as he slipped his arm around her shoulder, his hand dangling precariously close to her chest and laughing, said: "You know Hermione; I've never seen you like this before. We'll have to get you drunk more often."

Ron, upon seeing this, immediately put his arm around the Hufflepuff girl.

Why was she doing this? She couldn't think what was making her try so hard to make Ron jealous, but she did know that she wanted it to end soon, as Terry Boot's hand was now gently stroking the base of her neck, creeping closer to the neckline of her top.

So when Lavender Brown suggested a game of 'Seven minutes in heaven', Hermione jumped at the opportunity to escape Terry's grasp, despite not actually knowing what the game was about.

Lavender soon explained the rules.

"Right!" she shouted, drawing a curtain across the room with her wand. "That broom cupboard has two doors, one either side of that curtain. Boys, you go on that side, girls on this side. Spin a bottle on each side to decide the one boy and one girl who go in!" She smiled broadly. "Shall we?"

"Um, what exactly do we do in the broom cupboard?" asked a girl who Hermione knew from their potions class. Hermione was glad somebody asked the question and she didn't know either. Well, she had a pretty shrewd idea based on the previous activities of the party but thought she should probably know for sure.

"Well, whatever you want to do" shrugged Lavender. "But the lights will be off and you won't know who it is until we open the door afterwards. And even then only the two people actually _in_ their will know, unless you want to tell everyone. Basically just go in and make out with whoever is in there."

The girl who had asked looked a little taken back by this response.

"Don't fret" laughed Lavender "if you don't want to, just say no if it lands on you. Right, boys! That side of the curtain you go, as soon as both people are in your seven minutes will start!" She winked.

As soon as the boys were out of sight, Lavender made all the girls sit down in a circle around a bottle, before flicking it with a jet from her wand to start it spinning. There was a very pregnant pause, broken only by a laugh and a cheer from the boys, indicating their bottle had stop spinning.

The girls' bottle slowed to a still, pointing at the girl from Hermione's potion class who had asked about the game. She looked uncomfortable for a minute, then shook her head slightly and said: "No, I'm alright, skip me."

"You sure?" asked the girl sitting next to her.

"Yeah" replied the former girl, before adding under her breath: "I'm not that fucking desperate." with a dark look at Lavender.

Hermione tried to hide a smile. Lavender certainly did seem pretty desperate at this point. She was now saying that she would take the girls place, instead of re-spinning the bottle. This idea was met with many smirks and eye-rolls, but general agreement, until Hermione's friend Alice decided to put her opinion in.

Hermione had always liked Alice. They weren't close, but she had always got on well with her. But after what she said next, Hermione wanted to punch her.

"Why doesn't Hermione go?" She said it quietly, to ensure that the boys didn't hear, but loud enough for all the girls to look around, suddenly interested.

"No, that's fine" Hermione said hurriedly. "I'm okay, Lavender can go."

But people were starting to agree with Alice. "Yeah!" piped up Hannah Abbott "It's your party Hermione, the birthday girl has to go!"

Hermione protests were met with huge agreements for her to be the one to go into the broom cupboard.

"Come on Hermione!" slurred Padma Patil, "Don't be so boring!"

At these words, Hermione's head was once again filled with images of Ron attempting to kiss Padma, and the slap he got in response. Anger rose inside of her, how dare she call her boring?

She grabbed a bottle of firewhiskey from the girl next to her, downed it in one and dropped it by her side, where it smashed into a thousand little pieces. She stepped over it indignantly, and strode over to the door of the broom cupboard.

Outside the door, she paused. Her head was spinning. She was certainly drunk now. This was brand new territory for her.

'Right' she told herself firmly. 'You're going to march in there and have a good time. And try as hard as possible not to throw up all over him. And if it's someone gross, who cares? Even if it's Neville-flipping-Longbottom, I can make him swear not to tell, and no one will ever know.'

She pulled open the door and stepped inside. She was plunged straight into darkness. She took a step in front of her and collided with something that felt like the corner of a table.

"Oh shoot!" She muttered rubbing her leg.

She heard movement somewhere ahead of her.

"Hi?" she said, her voice sounding slurred and not at all like her own.

"Hey" came a voice in return. She might have recognised it, but she was not in a position to stop and figure it out.

She felt a pair of hands brush against her shoulder and reached out in front of her. Her hands collided with what must have been the guy's chest.

"Hi" she said again. She wondered if he was as nervous as her.

"Hi" he repeated. She could hear the smile in his voice. He clearly wasn't nervous.

"Hi—" she started again, but he clumsily placed a finger to her lips.

"Just stop talking." He whispered the words so gently that Hermione knew she wouldn't even be able to tell who it was if she was sober.

He placed a crooked finger under her chin and tilted her face up towards his.

She could feel him moving his face closer to hers. She could feel his warm, alcohol-tinted breath on her cheek. He paused for a moment, before moving in to kiss her.

The first kiss was slightly to the right of her mouth. After all, it was quite difficult to orientate yourself when you're not only drunk, but also in pitch-black-darkness.

He moved his head, and kissed her again, this time perfectly on the mouth. He was kissing her gently, and had his hands firmly around her cheeks, holding her face tilting up to his.

He pulled away, and kissed her again, moving his hands down until they were around her waist. He was still kissing her softly, and gently.

Hermione became aware that she was just standing there, hardly kissing him back with her hands hanging loosely by her side. She plucked up her courage and moved her hands up to wrap them around his neck. He was considerably taller than her.

As she began to kiss him back he pulled away, and paused, his lips hovering over hers, only an inch from her face.

Then he kissed her again, harder this time with more passion. His hands came back up, to run through her hair.

Hermione couldn't help herself thinking this was different than with Viktor. When Viktor had kissed her it had been simple, just a kiss. It had meant something perhaps, but it had been the same every time. Always the same, almost boring.

But this was so different. It was interesting. It was intense and it made her heart beat in a way it never had before. She could tell he was thinking the same, by the way he had suddenly starting kissing her harder, and faster, and firmer.

She started running her hands through his hair as he lowered his once more, to the top of her thighs as he picked her up and threw her back against the wall.

Hermione wrapped her legs around his waist and he pushed his body into hers, still kissing her so fervently, and she could feel his heart beating hard, pressed against her chest.

This was amazing. This was better than she could ever have imagined. Even if this did turn out to be someone embarrassing like Neville... well... she didn't even care.

He had removed his hands from under her legs, and was now only pinning her to the wall with the force of his own body pressing against hers. His hands were slowly moving under her top. His cold hands, moving up her shirt, in perfect contrast to her hot, almost sweating skin.

Hermione Granger was a virgin.

This never bothered her, despite other girls in her year being adamant that you weren't 'cool' unless you'd lost your virginity by the age of fifteen. No, Hermione had always maintained that she would have sex when _she _wanted to, not when anyone else decided she should. She wasn't going to run around begging guys for sex just to be considered 'cool'.

Yes, Hermione Granger was a virgin, but right now she would be perfectly happy to have hot, meaningless sex with this guy, whose identity she had no idea of. She would be perfectly happy if he just took her in his arms and –

Her thoughts were interrupted by a loud rap on the door.

"Seven minutes are up!" came Lavender's irritating sing-song voice.

She could feel the boy smiling as his lips remained immobile against hers. Then he slowly pulled away, and let her body fall into a standing position. She felt him take a step back.

The door was suddenly flung open, and Hermione was blinded by the light. She covered her face slightly with her hand to allow her eyes to adjust to the sudden lighting change.

"Shit." came a low voice from in front of her.

Hermione removed her hand from over her eyes, and looked up into the cold, grey, and rather shocked eyes of Draco Malfoy.

***AUTHOR'S NOTE: ohemgeeee what do you guys think? I know some of you may find this side to Hermione rather unrealistic, but I have tried as hard as I can to convey her reasons for these actions so let me know what you think! And let me know about the length too, is it too long? It is certainly longer than I expected it to be!**

**By the way, THIS IS NOT A DRAMIONE FIC, as I do not ship them. This story however, will contain ELEMENTS of Dramione but not completely. Just thought I should let you know incase any of you absolutely hate Dramione and want to stop reading now: please don't. Thanks ;D**

**Please leave reviews, tell me what you think of all the characters and stuff :) T'will be much appreciated!**

**Hope you enjoyed, and I can't wait to get cracking on the next chapter, which will include Hermione's reaction to all this shiz!***


	4. Chapter 3: Blame it on the alcohol

***AUTHOR'S NOTE: I am so freaking sorry this took so long. I have had absolutely no motivation to write recently, and to be honest, it sucks balls. But I've finally finished this chapter, and I hope it meets your standards. Draco appears a lot more prominently in this chapter, and to be honest, I like him! Let me know what you think, please guys. **

**DISCLAIMER: All credit to JKR, I do not own any of the characters in this fanfiction. Neither do I own the song 'Blame it on the alcohol' by Jamie Foxx which I have referenced in the title of this chapter. Ob-vious-ly. Nor do I own the song 'Kiss me' by Sixpence None the richer than I have reference somewhere in this chapter. Kind of.**

**SUMMARY THUS FAR: in the last chapter we saw Hermione feeling the pressures of being a teenage girl, and getting drunk at her surprise birthday party and playing 'Seven minutes in heaven' with someone who then turned out to be Draco Malfoy – oops! ***

Chapter 3

'_**Blame it on the a-a-a-a-a-alcohol'**_

"Oh my God." Hermione whispered.

Draco looked disgusted with himself. "Fucking hell, Granger" he shot at her.

"Oh that's right, just blame this on me!" Hermione's voice was un-characteristically hysterical.

Draco rubbed his face with his hands. "Why?" he was muttering under his breath. "Out of everyone here, why you?"

"I'm sorry Draco" sighed Hermione.

He looked up, shocked that she was apologising for this.

"I'm sorry" she said again, this time in a more bitter tone. "I know this must be horrendous for you." She stepped closer to him and hissed: "How does it feel? To know your lips have kissed these mudblood lips? Dirty? Contaminated?"

Draco's eyes widened to hear her call herself a mudblood.

"I'm not embarrassed to be muggle-born you know" She smiled sadly, knowing what he was thinking. "But I am embarrassed to have kissed you. So don't worry, your little Dark Lord worshipping friends won't find out about this. I won't be telling anybody, you can be sure of that." She moved away from him and headed towards the door.

She stopped just before reaching it, then turned and watched him still with his head in his hands. Her eyes once more filled with tears at the thought of what Harry and Ron would say if they knew what she had just done.

"Draco?" she said quietly.

He turned to look at her.

"No one else will know this ever happened. I won't tell anyone. You won't either?" she said the words carefully, trying to get all emotion out of her voice.

Hermione saw the look in his eyes soften for a moment. But a second later he was looking at her disgustedly.

"Why would I tell anyone about this, you filthy mudblood." His voice was filled with hate, but it seemed false. Hermione could tell he wasn't as angry as he was making out. Confused, yes, but not angry.

"You don't mean that." she said quietly, as she exited the room and closed the door behind her.

Hermione was met immediately with cheers, and shouts of: "Well? Who was in there?" She forced a smile on her face.

"I'm not one to kiss and tell, you know! Right, who's next?"

The bottle was spun once more and Mandy Brocklehurstwent into the broom cupboard. For the next few minutes, people continued to pester Hermione to tell her who was in there, but eventually left her alone once they realised she wasn't going to tell them.

Hermione eventually shook off the last few people, and looked around her. She spotted Ginny in the corner, talking to a few of her fellow fourth-years.

"Ginny" shouted Hermione, running over to her.

"Oh hey Hermione!" smiled Ginny, "how are you?"

"Good thanks" Hermione dismissed the question. "Um, I think I'm going to head off. Tell Ron and Harry thanks for everything, and I'll see them tomorrow?"

"Yeah, sure!" Ginny lowered her voice. "Hey Hermione, is everything okay?"

"Yeah, yeah" Hermione plastered a smile on her face. "Yeah, I've just got a headache."

Ginny smiled sympathetically, "I'm not surprised, how much you've drank!"

Hermione forced herself to laugh, then said goodbye and slipped out of the door. It must have been at least 2 am now, and Filch and Mrs Norris would be wandering the corridors somewhere. She began to walk as quietly as she could back to Gryffindor tower, but had only moved two steps when she heard a door open and shut behind her.

She slipped round the corner to hide, but not before glancing over her shoulder.

She wished she hadn't. If it had been Filch waiting to put her in detention for being out of bed, that might have been better than what actually happened next.

Draco had also been leaving the party, and he had seen her look at him as she slipped round the corner. He stopped, momentarily, clearly unsure what to do next. But he had to come past her to get to the staircase to take him down to the dungeons where the Slytherin common room is, and so he carried on walking, slower now.

She could hear his footsteps getting closer to where she was standing. She slipped her right shoe off and pretended to rub the back of her heel, giving her an excuse to have had stopped.

"Chill out Granger, it's just me." muttered Draco as he walked past her.

"Draco." His name had slipped out her mouth before she even knew why.

He stopped walking and spun around, perhaps a little too eagerly. "What?"

"I um –" Hermione stuttered. "It doesn't matter."

Malfoy looked down and frowned at the floor. "This doesn't change anything you know?"

"What?"

"This. Me... And you. What just happened... Nothing is going to change. Potter and the _Weasel_ won't –"

Hermione interrupted him, saying "Don't call him tha-" but Draco cut across her again.

"Shut up and listen to me Granger." He had taken a step closer to her, and was looking down on her threateningly. "Potter and..." he hesitated, "Weasley, they won't find out about this. No one will. Not Crabbe, not Goyle, not Pansy. And not any of the stupid little girls in your dormitory. You know they'll want to know. But you won't tell them. No one will know. If you have to tell them something, say it was some sixth year you didn't know. Tell them anything, lie to them, it's not hard." He paused for breath, aware that he had been speaking for an unnecessarily long time.

Hermione looked into his eyes with the coldest look she could muster. "I don't need you to tell me what to do, Draco. You think I want to shout about what just happened? Merlin, I knew you were arrogant, but I never realised you were this bad. I will take this secret with me to the grave, and you will have to deal with the fact, that there is at least one girl at this school who doesn't want to brag about having kissed you. There is at least one girl at this school, who _has_ kissed you, and my God, who wishes she hadn't." She paused, and saw the anger in his eyes falter for a moment, where he simply looked in shock.

She continued, "You strut around here like you're God's gift or something, thinking every girl wants you, and every guy wants to be you, but it's just not true. You're cocky, you're conceited, and above all, you're a bully."

Malfoy blinked, clearly shocked at hearing this. Hermione doubted anyone had ever said anything like this to him before. However he quickly regained his usual confidence and retorted angrily.

"Perhaps, Granger. Perhaps you don't like me. But do you really think I care? No, maybe the Hufflepuffs, and the Ravenclaws don't like me either, but I really don't give a shit. So what if that makes me conceited? Maybe every girl doesn't want me, but plenty of Slytherin girls do, and they're the ones I want. Why would I want some Gryffindor mudblood like you? Don't fucking flatter yourself. And at least I'm happy being where, and who I am. You live for other people's approval. Like tonight, that's not who you are! You're not the kind of girl to get drunk and make out with a randomer just because it's your fucking birthday! But you did. You did because you're so desperate for people to like you! For Potter, Weasel and all of the others to think your cool. Everyone thinks you don't care what people think about you, but you do, don't you? You really do, I can tell. You want nothing more right now to go to your cosy common room, sit by the fire and read a book. I bet if you were really honest with yourself, you would rather have done that than come here tonight. And you want to know the worst thing? There's nothing wrong with that! If that's what you want to do on a Saturday night then fine! Yeah, it's a bit lame, but who gives one? But that's not enough for you. Doing what you want to do, isn't enough. And it's pathetic."

The silence was ringing in Hermione's ears after this little speech. Then she did something that she had only ever done once before. She reached up and punched him in the face.

"Don't you dare." she snarled, "don't you dare pretend that you know me."

She ducked around him and stomped off. When she had got to the end of the corridor, she allowed herself to glance behind her, expecting to see an empty hall. But she didn't. Draco was still there, standing still, and rubbing his jaw where she had hit him.

The anger she had been filled with weakened slightly. He looked so alone. She had never seen him like that before. Obviously, she'd seen him alone before, but normally he strode around the castle like he owned the place whether he was on his own or not. But here, now, he just looked weak. He looked fragile and lost, like he didn't know what to do with himself.

No sooner had she thought this, did Draco turn on the spot and hurry down the Grand Staircase, glancing around him as he went. If he had seen her watching him, he did not react.

A resounding bang of a nearby door brought Hermione back to her senses. Although it was probably nothing, she thought she better get going, just in case Filch came round the corner in a minute, and she hurried off in the direction of the Gryffindor tower.

As soon as she climbed through the portrait hole, she was met with a welcoming sight: an empty common room. She ran up to her dormitory to find it just the same. 'Everyone must still be at the party.' She smiled slightly at the thought. She really wasn't in the mood to speak to anyone now.

She pulled on her pyjamas and climbed into bed. She kept the hangings around her four-poster open, allowing a stream of moonlight from the window to fall over the room, basking it in a cold, white glow.

She liked the room like this. It seems depressing, but sometimes Hermione felt that the coldness and the emptiness were comforting. It even smelt cold. You know that smell you get after a thunderstorm? It smelt like that.

The white-gray light that the room was under made the whole dormitory look eerily beautiful. Hermione was taking in every aspect of her surroundings, to put off the moment where she had to think about what had happened.

She pulled the duvet up under her chin, and allowed her mind to play flashbacks of the events of the night.

Hermione felt disgusted at herself. Her head was still spinning at the amount of alcohol she had consumed; her hair was still messed up where Draco had run his fingers through it and her heart was still pounding, for reasons she could not explain.

Harry and Ron would be furious if they found out what she had done. Tears started to stream down her face as she thought of their reactions.

'No', shook herself firmly 'No, they won't find out. They _can't _find out'

Draco wouldn't tell anybody. She knew he wouldn't. And she wouldn't tell anyone either and it would all be okay.

But that didn't change the fact that it happened. She, Hermione Granger, had kissed Draco Malfoy, the only person in the whole school that Harry and Ron hated as much as Professor Umbridge.

But that wasn't even the worst part. She had kissed Draco Malfoy, and she had _enjoyed _it, that was the worst part. She had _liked_ the way his arms had felt around her. He had a lot to boast under those robes, which were all anyone ever saw him in. She had liked the way he was so forceful with her. The way he didn't care who she was, or what was happening. His silent confidence and slight arrogance, in the way that he had just kissed her so passionately, so fervently... well, it was just completely new to her. And it excited her.

Hermione was playing those moments in the broom cupboard, again and again in her mind. She was almost feeling the way his hands felt on her skin, the way her heart was pounding with every kiss. She was reliving the elation that she had felt in those last few minutes before the door was flung open, changing everything.

Hermione sat bolt upright. She had to stop thinking like this. It was _Draco Malfoy_, the biggest prick in the school, why couldn't she get him out of her mind?

She supposed it was just the element of surprise, the forbidden secret. Even now, it filled her with a strange sense of excitement.

What was wrong with her having a little secret? No one would know, no harm was done, so why should she have to be ashamed?

Hermione sighed. She could tell herself that over and over again, but she knew she should be ashamed. To get drunk and make out with a stranger was not who she was. Draco had been right, and she hated that.

His words echoed through her head: "_Everyone thinks you don't care what people think about you, but you do, don't you? You really do. I can tell._"

He was right. He was right and she hated herself for it.

The tears where streaming thick and fast down her face now.

'No' she said out loud, wiping her face and trying to regain her composure. 'I don't have to be ashamed of anything if no one else knows. I won't talk about it again. I will never speak to him again. It will be my-little-secret." She whispered the last few words through gritted teeth.

Hermione was just about to clamber out of bed to freshen up her face when she heard voices laughing from outside the door. The girls were back. Hermione threw herself back into bed, but didn't have time to draw the hangings closed. She squeezed her eyes shut as the door opened, hoping they'd assume she was asleep.

"Oh my God, what a night!" came the loud, high pitched shriek of Lavender.

"Shhh" came another voice, the quiet, cautious voice of Alice, "I think Hermione's asleep."

"Who cares?" laughed Lavender, but she was quieter this time.

"Is Fay not back?" asked someone who sounded like Parvati Patil.

"Ooooh she must still be with Seamus!" cried Alice, sounding excited. The other two girls made noises of agreement.

Suddenly, the three girls started whispering, so quietly that Hermione couldn't hear.

Her stomach churned, she couldn't bear not knowing what they were saying.

"Hermiionnee" said Parvati in a sing-song voice.

Hermione kept her eyes clenched tightly shut, but she could hear Parvati moving closer to her bed.

"Hermione, come on" Alice sighed, "we know you're awake! Come on, we want to know what happened!"

Hermione's stomach dropped, if possible, even further.

This went on for a few minutes, where Hermione kept her eyes firmly shut, until at last she felt them move away from her bed.

"Ah well!" cried Alice, loudly and dramatically, "she's got her eyes closed so she simply _must_ be asleep!"

"Oh yes!" shrieked Parvati, in the same pantomime tone that Alice was using, "now we can all bitch about her like we all wanted to!"

"Oh goodie! She's so annoying! With her perfect potions –"

"– and perfect spells –" came Lavender's voice.

"– and perfect everything, my God she's the most annoying thing ever!" Alice shouted, still in that same mocking voice.

Hermione grinned in spite of herself.

"HA! There we go, we knew you were awake you numpty!" cried Parvati, leaping onto her bed and crushing Hermione's feet.

Hermione was forced to open her eyes. She sat up and glared at the occupants of the room.

"Well, for your information, I was asleep before you lot came in here shouting!" Hermione said, grumpily.

"No you weren't, we could here you moving around and sniffling from outside, what's wrong with you?" said Lavender with a small laugh.

Hermione looked down. "Yeah well, I've got a cold." She muttered.

She looked up to see Alice raising her eyebrows disbelievingly. The other two seemed to buy it however, as Parvati jumped off Hermione's bed, ran over to her own and grabbed a small bottle from the cupboard.

"Here" she said, handing it to Hermione, "Madam Pomfrey gave it to me last time I was ill, there's still some left."

Hermione smiled gratefully, and put the bottle on the table next to her bed.

"I think I'm going to get some sleep now though guys" Hermione faked a yawn and made to lie back down.

"Hold it!" cried Parvati and Lavender together.

"You're not getting out of it that easy." smirked Lavender.

"Tell us what happened!" said Parvati excitedly.

"What happened when?" questioned Hermione, feigning ignorance. "What are you talking about?"

All three girls looked at her, eyebrows raised.

"Who was it? In Seven Minutes in Heaven? Come on Hermione, you have to tell us!" Lavender cried.

"Oh, that!" Hermione exclaimed, thinking of a way to get out of this conversation as quick as possible. "Awh guys, I'm just not sure I want to tell anyone!"

Alice seemed to sense her reluctance, as she suddenly spoke up. "Come on girls, us three will go and get ready for bed, Hermione can make us all some hot chocolates and we can discuss this in five minutes, alright?" She smiled encouragingly at Hermione.

The girls all agreed, and the other three went off to the bathroom, leaving Hermione alone once more. She climbed out of bed and grabbed five mugs. Mixing hot chocolate powder and milk together in a small cauldron, she began to heat it with her wand. Within one minute, Hermione had poured it into five mugs and set them on each girl's bedside table, putting a bubble-charm around Fay's, to stop the heat from escaping whilst she was still out.

She climbed back into bed and began to warm her hands around her mug, mulling over excuses not to tell the girls in her mind.

The door flung open and Fay staggered in, beaming. She instantly ran over and sat down on the edge of Hermione's bed.

"Oh my God Hermione, you wouldn't believe the night I've had!"

Hermione sat up a little taller and encouraged her friend to tell her. This was a part of the night she didn't mind discussing.

"Right so, I was with Seamus at your party wasn't I? And, might I add, he was looking amazing. I've always thought dark coloured shirts suit his skin tone really well..."

Hermione smiled slightly. Fay had the biggest crush on Seamus, it was sweet really. Hermione allowed her thirty seconds of describing, in detail, every aspect of his outfit, before urging her to get on with the actual story.

"Oh yeah, so I was talking to Seamus all night, we'd both had a bit too much to drink y'know, and we were dancing and all this, and it was just... nice, you know? It wasn't like we were just hooking up because we were drunk and having a laugh, we spent hours just talking and laughing and dancing before anything actually happened..."

"And then?" enquired Hermione, full of genuine happiness for her friend.

"And then, oh looking back it was so corny" she laughed, "but the music changed and that really slow, nice song came on, you know, '_Kiss me_' by _Six Sickles None The Richer_? Yeah, so we kind of slow danced for a bit and then he just kissed me. Oh my God, Hermione it was amazing. I just forgot about everyone else in the room. It wasn't like any other guy I've kissed, it was deep and, I don't know, it just felt..."

Fay paused, biting her lip nervously, "... meaningful. I know it probably meant nothing, but I really felt like he felt something towards me in that moment. Oh God, it sounds so stupid! I know I shouldn't think like that, because he _probably_ just wanted to hook up with me and nothing else, but I can't stop myself from thinking what if it's something more!" Her tone changed and she started to sound nervous and upset. "God, to be honest, now I feel a bit stupid."

Hermione lightly touched her friends arm. "Fay" she said gently, "there's nothing stupid about that. I know exactly what you mean, it's like... it's like you know it meant nothing, but you can't stop yourself from hoping it's more. Or like you know you shouldn't be looking at it like that, but you just can't help yourself."

Fay furrowed her brow. "Yeah" she whispered, "yeah that's exactly it. Why, who do you feel like that about? What happened, Hermione?"

For a brief moment, Hermione wanted to tell Fay everything. But she brushed the thought aside and forced a smile on her face. "Oh nothing, never mind" she said, "So what happened then? With you and Seamus?"

Fay did not look completely convinced, but her delight in telling her story overtook her curiosity.

"Right" she said, "so after that he just kind of pulled away and said to me: 'you wanna get out of here?' which is pretty much when I came over to you at the party, yeah?"

Hermione nodded to show she remembered.

"So we left and went up to the astronomy tower to have a drink and we carried on kissing up there, like we were just lying on the floor, and he had his arms around me and we were snogging and it was so perfect! And then –"

She was cut off by the dormitory door opening again, and the other three girls coming in and climbing into their beds.

"Come on then!" shouted Parvati "aren't you going to tell us, Hermione?"

"Tell you what?" asked Fay

"Who this mystery guy is that Hermione hooked up with at her party!"

"WHAT?" shrieked Fay, "Oh my God, you kept that quiet! Tell me!"

Hermione groaned. "Leave it guys, please? Come on Fay, tell us more about what happened with Seamus!"

"Oh well we went up to Seamus' dorm and had sex" she reeled off, "It's not important, come on, I want to know about your night!"

Hermione made a dismissive movement with her hand and slumped back into her pillows.

"Well, we'll tell you what we already know" Lavender said to Fay.

As the other four girls started discussing what they knew about her antics that night, Hermione's mind started to drift again and Draco's words echoed in her head: "_If you have to tell them something, say it was some sixth year you didn't know. Tell them anything, lie to them, it's not hard."_

"Well?" Fays voice brought her back with a start.

Hermione hated that she had to do what Draco said, but she couldn't think of any other option.

"Fine" she muttered, "It was just some sixth year I didn't know, there!"

"Oh" said Parvati looking crestfallen. "So that's it? Why didn't you just tell us before?"

Hermione shrugged sheepishly. "I don't know" she muttered, hating herself, "I guess I just felt... slutty. I don't even know the guy. That's not the kind of thing I do."

The other girls nodded. "Too bad" smirked Lavender, "but how was it? Was he hot?"

Hermione laughed. "Yeah, he was quite good looking I guess. And yeah it was... it was fine. It was good."

The girls pushed Hermione for more answers but she stayed as vague as she could. Eventually, the conversation veered onto other events of the night. Hermione allowed her mind to wander, only tuning back in when she heard Parvati say the words that made her heart sink.

"Did you guys see Ron trying to kiss my sister? Oh my God, that was awful!" They all nodded in agreement.

"Why did she slap him though?" asked Alice. "I'm not being funny, but it seemed to me like she was perfectly happy to flirt with him before he tried to kiss her?"

Parvati rolled her eyes. "To be honest, she just likes the attention. She draws boys in by flirting with them and then pushes them away. It makes her look like she has so much attention of boys that she's turning them away. I know she's my sister, but to be honest it's bloody annoying."

"Yeah I know what you mean" nodded Alice, "It's a shame, Ron is a nice guy too."

"Isn't he just?" smirked Lavender.

Hermione rolled her eyes at Fay, who laughed quietly.

"Nahh" Fay smiled, "He is nice, to be fair. I saw him earlier and he wouldn't shut up about you, Hermione."

"What?" cried Hermione, perhaps a little too eagerly, "when was this?"

"Oh it was earlier sometime. Like I said, I was up in Seamus' dorm, and after we'd... well, y'know" Fay hesitated.

"After you'd shagged his brains out, yeah, we know" laughed Lavender.

Hermione rolled her eyes, Lavender was always so crude.

Fay laughed, and continued with her story. "Yeah, well anyway, afterwards I was just getting dressed and I heard voices coming up the stairs, and to be honest, I just panicked! I know Seamus will probably tell them anyway but I didn't want anyone to see me so I just hid in his closet! I thought I could wait until they'd got into bed and then sneak out of the door!"

"What?" laughed Alice, "why? I bet none of them would even care!"

Fay shrugged. "I don't even know, I just panicked, like I said. I was still a bit drunk, and only half dressed and probably looked a mess..."

"Sex hair?" winked Lavender, only to receive a pillow in the face from Fay's direction.

"Anyway!" Fay continued loudly over Lavender's shrieks, "It was Harry and Ron coming up the stairs, and they were just talking about you, Hermione. Ron sounded all worried that you'd left so early, he kept saying that he hoped you'd had a good night, and he was worried that he had ruined your birthday and stuff. He sounded like he really cared to be honest!"

The other girls all wolf-whistled, making Hermione blush.

"Oh stop it, you lot! Well, what did Harry say?"

"He didn't really say anything to be honest, he just kept saying 'mmm' and 'yeah'. He's always a bit out of it nowadays isn't he?"

"Well, can you blame him?" said Hermione sadly.

"Yeah" agreed Alice, "most of the school thinks he's crazy. That's got to put a bit of a downer on you."

"Well" said Lavender, coldly, "I'd have to agree with 'most of the school' then. That boy is such an attention seeker! He's not happy unless something's going awfully. He just goes around looking for trouble, and frankly, he's starting to annoy me."

This outburst was met with a very pregnant pause.

"I think you're being a little bit narrow-minded Lavender." said Hermione quietly.

"Narrow-minded? You're calling me narrow-minded?" cried Lavender, with a half laugh.

"I believe that's what I said, yes."

"How can you say that? You mean you actually believe the shit he's coming out with? That you-know-who is back? It's a fucking joke!"

"Yes" said Hermione, a little louder but fighting to keep her voice level. "Yes I do think Harry is telling the truth. Do you really think he would make something like that up? Something so shocking that most of this school is stupid enough to think he's lying? Do you really think he'd do that for a lie?"

Lavender had stood now, and was almost shouting. "Oh so now I'm fucking stupid, am I?"

"Oh sit down, you pathetic girl." spat Hermione, "I'm not going to have a fight with you. Yes, I believe Harry, and yes, I think you're stupid not to. Yes, I do believe that..." she hesitated, plucking up her courage, "...that V-Voldemort is back."

Lavender sat down at the shock of hearing the name, and Hermione heard several gasps and flinches coming from the other three girls in the room.

Hermione took a deep breath to settle her anger, and spoke again. "Now, if you'll all excuse me, I'd like to get some sleep. Thank you all for a lovely birthday party, I truly enjoyed it."

She drew the hangings around her bed shut with a flick of her wand, and pulled the duvet up under her chin.

She paused, just for a moment to hear the other girls shuffling slowly around the room and into their beds. The air in the room was finally filled with slow breathing and tension.

Hermione allowed herself one moment of self-pity, before brushing away her tears and scolding herself. As she relaxed on to her pillow, she became aware of just how exhausted she was, and she managed to shut off her brain, and let the sleep wash over her.


End file.
